This invention relates to whole house fan assemblies, and more particularly to a flush mount shutter assembly for closing off the opening in a ceiling leading to a whole house fan when the fan is de-energized, and for automatically opening thus permitting the movement of air from within the house to the fan when the fan is energized. Even more specifically, this invention relates to a shutter assembly which may be readily flush mounted (i.e., located substantially in coplanar relation with the underside of the ceiling) such that the shutter assembly does not substantially protrude downwardly from the ceiling.
Whole house fans are often installed in a center hallway or at some other central location within a home so as to draw cool outside air into the house through open windows and to exhaust air from within the house into an attic space above the ceiling of the house. Sufficient vent areas are provided in the attic space of the house so as to permit heated air within the attic space to be exhausted to the outside. In this manner, the air within the house is constantly exchanged and heated air within the attic space is exhausted. Thus, the temperature of the air within a house can be maintained at a comfortable level during hot weather, thus lessening or eliminating the requirement for air conditioning. Of course, the energy required to drive such a whole house fan is appreciably less than is required for central air conditioning.
Prior art whole house fans typically had shutter assemblies associated with them which were intended to be installed on the bottom face of the ceiling so as to close off the opening therethrough. However, these shutter assemblies oftentimes extended down from the ceiling a distance of several inches so as to permit the movable louvers of the shutter assembly to be swung from a horizontal closed position in which they blocked off the air flow to the opening in the ceiling to a vertical position in which they were raised toward the whole house fan thereby to substantially open the flow path through the shutter assembly and through the opening in the ceiling to the whole house fan installed thereabove. However, it was generally recognized that these prior art shutter assemblies which extended down from the ceiling a substantial distance took up space within the living area of the house and effectively cut down on the floor-to-ceiling height within a hallway or the like. Additionally, these prior art shutter assemblies were relatively expensive and required substantial additional package volume to accommodate them. This additional volume required more space for shipping and warehousing.
With known prior art shutters, it was generally considered to be a two-person job to install the shutter. Typically, the shutter assembly would be lifted into place on the bottom of the ceiling and, while one person held the shutter assembly firmly in position, another person would attached screws or other fasteners which securely held the shutter assembly in place. Because a large number of whole house fans are installed by homeowners, it would be advantageous if the homeowner could install the entire whole house fan assembly, including the shutter assembly, without help from other persons.